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Chuck Amato has been fired as head coach at NC State. He had a losing record in the ACC over 7 years. His overall record and conference record are both worse than his predecessor Mike O’Cain. He lost 3 straight games to UNC and finished the season with 7 straight losses. He had arguably the best quarterback ever in ACC history and could never finish any higher than 4th in the conference.

He has done a few good things. He motivated the fan base to give all their money to build some state of the art facilities. He recruited some highly talented players. We have 2 of the best running backs in the ACC and if they were at another school they would probably be leading the league in rushing. Hopefully whoever is hired to replace Amato can turn the the situation around. There have been some candidates mentioned such as Paul Johnson of Navy or possibly Norm Chow. Maybe this coaching search won’t be a circus like the basketball search.

So I’m hooked on Fantasy Football. For the most part I have never followed NFL football my entire life. I’ve always followed college football and basketball. Chris has been doing FF for a few years now. In my mind I always thought it was crazy how he came in from playing ball on Sundays and had to see what was going on with his players. Well there are some smack talkers at work and if you know me you know that’s all it took for me to get involved.

There are 22 teams in the league and I currently sit in 4th. This is a salary cap league. Some leagues are draft leagues and they keep pretty much the same players each week. We are able to trade each week depending on match ups. The player’s value changes week to week depending on performance. I’m losing ground to the leader but should move up a position this week. The reason for LT’s picture is because if you don’t have him in FF you are losing out. He’s a touchdown machine. Only seven more weeks until the season is over. I’ll let you know how I finish.

Well it only took them 6 years to finally land a blow on the president. And it was a big blow. After the media has pounded Bush day after day for 6 years they are finally able to celebrate a victory over him. However, I think it is ironic that conservative democrats are the candidates that put the left wing liberal leaders in power. Rahm Emanuel, Pelosi and Schumer recruited moderate democrats because they knew that was the only way for them to come into power. Their ideas and agenda will always lose against conservative ideas when voted on at the ballot box. For the last two years the Dem leaders have been all anti-war trying to figure out how to get us out of Iraq so all of Europe and Asia will like us again.

I also wanted to note that during the coverage of the election I have yet to hear or read a story from the Drive-by Media about any disenfranchised voters in Florida or Ohio. I did hear about a few voting machine problems on CNN, but once the wave of Dem projections started rolling that was all forgotten. I didn’t hear anything about how Jim Webb or John Tester stole two Senate seats from the Republicans. I read Chuckie Schumer said that George Allen should do the gentleman thing and concede defeat. Does anyone remember any Dems saying that back in 2000? Oh…that’s only when the Republicans win.

The sole reason the Dems won the election is because of the country’s frustration with Bush and how the war has been handled. It’s not that they want to pull out in a year regardless of whether the job is done. We have still yet to hear what changes they are going to implement to help solve the situation. I’m sort of glad they won because they don’t have anyone to blame but themselves. They will be making the laws and deciding where the money goes. And when the Patriot Act expires and the tax cuts expire and they shut down the Terrorist Surveillance Program they better pray we don’t get hit again like 9/11. The Dems have been crying since they lost in 1994. Now we’ll see what they have. The Bush Bashing is over.

Sunday night the Blackmon Clan ventured out to a new restaurant up at 40 and 42. I had no clue it was there. I think Mom heard about it so we thought we would try it out. If you know us well you probably know that most of the time when we go somewhere to eat that there is always something that goes wrong or isn’t right with our meal. Well it was one for the books. All of us were extremely pleased with our meal and the service was very good. Chris and I had a Kentucky Chicken Salad with honey mustard. I believe Kelly Mae had a Cobb Salad. Jayme had Blackened Chicken Fetuccine Alfredo. Mom and Dad went with Baby Back Ribs. They said the ribs were as good as they have eaten.

I like the fact that they had 2 big screen flat panel tv’s with the NFL games on. I could watch my fantasy players while ate supper. The big dining room was smoke free which is a huge plus. I definitely recommend dining at the Cleveland Draft House. I’m sure we’ll go back again.

Well I made my first trip out west last week. Mom, Dad, Jayme and I packed up and headed out to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. It was an awesome trip. It was the first time Dad has ever flown on a commercial jet and the first time I’d flown since I was in 9th grade. We stayed at the J.W. Marriott in Phoenix. This is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed at on a trip. It was spectacular. We went to the Grand Canyon on Saturday morning and spent most of the day checking out the unbelievable views. You have to go and see it with your own eyes to appreciate how big and overwhelming it is. We also took a helicopter ride over the northern ridge of the canyon. It was a 30 minute ride and well worth the cost. It was pretty much the highlight of the day. On the way back to Phoenix we drover through part of the Painted Desert. The landscape in that part of the country is indescribable. Jayme has some videos of the helicopter ride on his site. Check them out. Here are some photos of our day at the Grand Canyon: Grand Canyon, Az

On Sunday we visited the opposite end of the state. Anyone that knows me knows I’m a huge fan of the movie Tombstone. I can pretty much quote the entire movie. I wanted to go visit the old town and check out places like the O.K. Corral and the Oriental Saloon. It was pretty neat to be there where Wyatt and Doc walked. We got to see the graves of the Clantons and the McLaurys. They were killed at the O.K. Corral by the Earps. Tombstone was out in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing else nearby except a small town named Benson. We had lunch there and decided to head down near the border and see if we could see a little bit of Mexico. I’m beginning to understand now why there are a lot of Mexicans in Benson, NC. It makes them feel close to home I guess. But anyway if you want to see some photos we took while in Tombstone click the link: Tombstone, Az

Yea it was a short trip to travel that far. I think I’m still suffering from the time changes. It was worth it though. We all had a good time and got home safe and sound. Here is a link to some pictures of Phoenix and the place were we stayed if you want to check them out. Phoenix, Az

If anyone has been around me recently you know the trouble I’ve had with the Mustang. For those of you that haven’t let me tell you the story. One morning several months ago I was on the way to work and noticed I needed to get some gas. I pull off at McGee’s there at the Shell station. Everything is pretty routine. I pump the gas, actually get my receipt and get back in the car. I then turn the key and she won’t start. I didn’t know what to think. So I call Daddy(pronounced Deady) and wake him up to tell him my car won’t start. He get’s up out of bed and gets his clothes on to come get me. I know for sure I’m stranded and will be late to work. About 10 minutes later I try it again and the thing fires right up. Now I really don’t know what think. I have to call Daddy(pronounced Deady) back and tell him that after I woke him up and made him get ready that I don’t need him anymore. Needless to say he goes back to bed and I go to work thinking this is a fluke and everything is ok. Boy was I wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

In stark contrast to my last entry about good food in Four Oaks, this is about squat in Benson. I mean can we get a good eating establishment in the Benson city limits? One that will remain open? So last week Frank’s closes and so does the Sandwich Shop. Frank’s was really good until the last few months it was open. Who would have ever thought the Sandwich Shop would have closed? Now all we have is McDonald’s, Pizza Hit, Andy’s and Pat’s!! LOL Pat’s might be the best thing in Benson now…I don’ know. I mean for crying out loud, Princeton of all places at least has a Bojangles. The intersection of TWO major interstates plays host to nothing. I may as well set me up a tent off exit 79 with some Beans and Franks. And to top it all off the one new thing that is opening soon in Benson is Fat Ratz Sports Bar.

I used to think there was only one place to eat in Four Oaks…Thornton’s. For a long time I didn’t know what I was missing. We played at the Farm Park back in April and we wanted to get some lunch before we had to get back. Somebody suggested Mary’s. I was like Mary’s? My expectations weren’t very high. It had never crossed my mind that there was such good eating in that small town. Needless to say, I’ve been a fan ever since.

Sadly, Mary passed away while at work in May. The restaurant was closed for a few months after her death. Her husband, Larry, decided that she would want the restaurant to open back up and serve those fine recipes that everyone loves. They serve backbone, hamburger steak, fried chicken and the many country vegetables that put you in size 40s. I only saw her twice while eating there, but Mary definitely impressed me with fine country cookin’.

Last Saturday Mom, Dad and myself went down to White Lake for the day. It looked like when the day started it might be a total wash. I had been wanting to get on Steven’s pontoon. I was very impressed with it and how it cut through the white caps out at White Lake. You actually have room to move around and enjoy some food and beverages without worrying if you are going to fall out of the boat. I think if I was going to get a boat that I would have to consider getting a pontoon. I could have just ridden on it and been happy. I did get on the tube and wear my arms out. Anna didn’t give me any room and was making it hard for me to stay on :) I had fun and I think Mom and Dad enjoyed it as well. We’ll be back down there on August 19th if anyone wants to catch us playing down there.

North Carolina finally has a major championship in hand as the Canes defeat the Oilers in an exciting and entertaining game seven in Raleigh. I’m not much of a hockey fan myself. Ok, I never watched it before the playoffs this season. However, I found myself somehow drawn to the sport. Maybe it was the contact and rough nature of the sport that lured me in. I’m not sure.

I don’t know what I disliked the most. NBC’s obvious biased coverage of the finals or the little twerp head coach for Edmonton, Craig McTavish. There were 20 seconds to go and all the commentators were talking about was how close the Oilers were to tasting victory. “Oh, they are so close.” Does anyone but Duke get a fair shake when it comes to sports team from North Carolina? Maybe NBC should hire Dickie V. You know Raleigh is close to Durham and Chapel Hill.

Alright, enough of my ranting. Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes winners of the 2006 Stanley Cup. I hope all the Canadians are enjoying the sight of the southern celebration. Note to McTavish: If at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking ’til you do succeed.